Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic visits vendors ... and today, it is a subject that was visited many moons ago and I thought it would be quite interesting to see how many of us will answer this question after years of brewing and drinking.

So ... what is important to you in a vendor's selection? 1000's of teas of every imaginable kind? Or all the way down to a highly specialized vendor ... or somewhere in between.

I look forward to seeing you on TeaDay today. Bottoms up, brew, refill and ... refill!!

My ideal TeaVendor has a mix of things that I can count on, things that are new and that I can trust will be fun to explore, and descriptions of teas I can interpret consistently for my own palate--so that I'll know which new things are likely to appeal to me. I've found that in vendors with a wide range of teas, who necessarily do not have the same depth in specific areas that a specialist would, but who consistently have interesting tea (e.g., Norbu), and in very highly specialized vendors who really focus on one thing (e.g., TeaHabitat). I probably would not be happy with thousands of offerings because I'd get lost trying to pick between things that are too close together, but at the other end of the scale, no limit--I'll go back to Hilo Coffee Mill soon for another batch of their Hawaiian-grown oolong, because I've not had anything quite like it from anywhere else.

So I pick 'other', because it's not how many teas, it's having teas that I like enough.....

I think it would really depend on where you are in your tasting at that point in time. Right now, I'd really enjoy having a vendor with a highly specialized knowledge. Someone whom I could count on to help me learn more about specific kinds of tea.

However, two or three years ago I would've wanted to be able to try as much as possible to see what sort of flavours were the most interesting. If I hadn't done that sort of exploration I wouldn't have found the teas I enjoy the most today.